Donald Clarke

• Way off topic
• February 11, 2013, 13:49

In the last post, I mentioned some odds on the Oscars drawn up by (other bookmakers are available) Paddy Power . They really don’t mess around at that turf accountant. Within an hour (or so) of Pope Benedict announcing his …

• Way off topic
• February 6, 2013, 21:23

They have done some truly awful things to Monopoly over the last few decades. None of the outrages was, mind you, quite so ghastly as the decision to allow commercial entities to sponsor the properties. Am I remembering this wrong …

• Uncategorized Video Games Way off topic
• July 25, 2012, 17:13

I was desperately trying to hang on until August, but I just couldn’t manage it. As you will be aware, that is the month when  – because ordinary people go on stupid “holidays” — newspapers get desperate and begin commissioning …

• Politics Way off topic
• July 7, 2011, 21:42

Yes, I know, I know. “Gotcha” was actually a Sun headline.  But it does seem enormously appropriate in this case. As you will be aware, James Murdoch, a close relative of The Lord of the Flies, has announced that, following …

• Fashion Way off topic
• July 4, 2011, 22:25

News has just reached us that the creator of the world’s greatest shoe has died. You can take your brogues, sneakers, sandals and gumboots. As far as this writer is concerned, the most magnificent of all shoes remains the classic …

• Hell Politics Way off topic
• November 23, 2010, 22:23

Well, the worst thing about the economic landslide is the fact that thousands of people will lose their jobs, fail to make their house payments, feel the need to emigrate and generally experience all kinds of ordinary and extraordinary misery. …

• Hell Moaning Way off topic
• October 8, 2010, 21:29

Okay, let’s get the preliminaries out of the way first. I delight in the changes that immigration has brought to Irish society.  Ireland of the 1980s looks ever more like a monocultural backwater when set beside the diverse country it …

• Language Way off topic
• August 22, 2010, 21:49

In a recent post, I made a few passing smart-Alec remarks about The Irish Times Stylebook’s assertion that lady thespians should be referred to as “female actors” rather than “actresses”. Quite a few readers ignored the main thrust of the …